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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Mark Partridge; Dan Rickman; Kamar Ali |
| Abstract: | Immigration is one of the most emotional topics in the political arena, which is an issue that has not gone unnoticed by economists. Recent studies usually examine sub-national areas to take advantage of the widely varying local concentrations of immigrants. Yet, there is no consensus on the overall local effects of immigration on migration behavior of domestic residents, although there is consensus that immigration has little influence on local area wages (but there is debate about immigration’s influence on national wages). One reason why the regional influence of immigrants is so hard to pin down is the many offsetting economic responses. For example, in response to an influx of recent immigrants, natives and previous immigrants may out-migrate to produce no net effect on total labor supply and, hence, no net effect on local employment or wages. In addition, very little is known about the destinations of native out-migrants. Do they avoid states with greater shares of immigrants, or do they respond to more standard economic measures such as relative growth rates. Using U.S. state-level data, this study examines the effects of recent and past immigration on state-to-state net-migration patterns and on the behavior of domestic state-to-state out-migrants. A key advantage of our migration measures is that we measures of state-to-state migration flows. Thus, we can examine differences across all 1,128 state-to-state migration flows for the lower 48 states. This sample provides considerably more information than the standard approach, which would be analogous to only estimating the 48 state net-migration rates on immigration rates and other control variables. Moreover, state-to-state data allows us to consider whether the domestic out-migrants are moving to states with relatively greater shares of immigrant levels than the origin state, which is an issue that has not been considered in past research. For example, we can answer whether domestic out-migrants are primarily driven by labor market effects or by possible aversion to states with greater shares of immigrants (not just new immigrants). |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p346&r=mig |
| By: | Ondøej Glazar (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic); PhDr. Wadim Strielkowski. (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic); Blanka Weyskrabova (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to analyse migration and remittances in Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) on the case study of Ukrainian labour migrants in the Czech Republic using primary data from survey questionnaires collected by the Ukrainian Migration Project (UMP). More specifically, it seeks to examine features and determinants of migration and remittances sent by Ukrainian labour migrants from the Czech Republic to Ukraine. <BR>Our results show that in the case of Ukrainian migrants in the Czech Republic the main determinants of the decision whether to migrate, in order to provide own families with additional income, are demographic characteristics and income of the receiving household, while the level of education does not affect this decision. Further, we found that the remitted amount depends mainly on the labour migrant’s income in the Czech Republic. No statistical significance was found in the relationship between the remitted amount and the income level of the receiving household. Moreover, we did not find any support for channelling remittances primarily into non-productive consumption in the data. On the other hand, no other productive spending besides the spending on house construction was confirmed either. <BR>Good understanding of determinants and motives that are interconnected with them should be helpful for policymakers on both sides of the migration corridor to formulate proper policies that aim at influencing the migration and remittances flows. Thus, certain policy implications might be derived from this research in order to channel Ukrainian migration in CEECs and benefit from remittance transfers.<BR> |
| Keywords: | international migration, labour market, CEECs, Czech Republic, Ukraine, remittances, remittance behaviour, migration and development policies |
| JEL: | C33 F22 F24 J61 |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fau:wpaper:wp2012_19&r=mig |
| By: | Milan Vosta |
| Abstract: | Migration is influencing the present happening in Europe. This whole phenomenon is associated with many paradoxes and contradictory working factors. The deployment of international migrants is very uneven. For the immigrants is characteristic the increase of their human capital, gaining new experience, and flexibility. Migration is sometimes perceived as a part of globalization and transformation, which is partly true, but there should be put more effort to come up with the solution of the migration reasons and the migrant integration. Migration models are connected to the historical bonds and big attention is paid to analyze them. A broader approach is needed and the analyzing of migration development in time. The common interest in this phenomenon leads into the harmonized measures through out the whole EU. The impact of migration on the labor market as well as on the economy as a whole depends on the age, education and the length of stay of the migrant in the specific country. Migration can be more influenced by unqualified or seasonal jobs. The overall economical effects on the labor market are relatively marginal. Positive effects are: increase of economical prosperity as well in the host state as the country of origin, lower wage of the migrant than is the added value, which he produces, existing economies of scale in specific production sectors. Negative effects are: uneven distribution of capital income, time horizon of migration, pressure on the health care and social system in case of illegal migration.Regarding the present demographic situation in most EU member states is immigration one of the ways how to solve the lack of labor force. Leading representatives try to coordinate the migration policy, which would secure concerned approach and legal frame to immigrants. This policy shouldn’t be built just on temporary needs of the labor market, but should involve human rights, equal rights and nondiscrimination. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p587&r=mig |
| By: | Gianluca Orefice |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates empirically the role of Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) as determinants of migration inflows for 29 OECD countries in the period 1998-2008. By increasing information about signatory countries, PTAs are expected to drive migration flows towards member countries. Building on the empirical literature on the determinants of migration, I estimate a modified gravity model on migration flows providing evidence of a strong positive effect of PTAs on bilateral migration flows. I also consider the content of PTAs as a further determinant of migration, finding that visa-and-asylum and labour market related provisions, when included in PTAs, stimulate bilateral migration flows. Finally, by comparing the average effects of PTAs on migration flows and on trade, I show that PTAs stimulate bilateral migration flows more than trade in final goods. PTAs might be used by government to increase inflows of immigrant workers in the case of labour shortages or population ageing. |
| Keywords: | Migration |
| JEL: | F22 F13 F53 F16 |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2012-15&r=mig |
| By: | Mattoo, Aaditya; Neagu, Ileana Cristina; Ozden, Caglar |
| Abstract: | The initial occupational placements of male immigrants in the United States labor market vary significantly by country of origin even when education and other individual factors are taken into account. Does the heterogeneity persist over time? Using data from the 1980, 1990, and 2000 Censuses, this paper finds that the performance of migrants from countries with lower initial occupational placement levels improves at a higher rate compared with that of migrants originating from countries with higher initial performance levels. Nevertheless, the magnitude of convergence suggests that full catch-up is unlikely. The impact of country specific attributes on the immigrants'occupational placement occurs mainly through their effect on initial performance and they lose significance when initial occupational levels are controlled for in the estimation. |
| Keywords: | Population Policies,International Migration,Voluntary and Involuntary Resettlement,Human Migrations&Resettlements,Labor Markets |
| Date: | 2012–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6140&r=mig |
| By: | Daniel Rauhut; Mats Johansson |
| Abstract: | Studies on immigration to Sweden show, in general, three marked traits: (1) they analyse the migration flows at a national level, and (2) they assume that the immigrants are distributed relatively even all over Sweden. However, different regions attract a different number of immigrants if immigration is studied at a regional level over time. This implies (3) that immigrants are often incorrectly considered as a homogenous group. Instead, four major groups of immigrants can be identified: returning Swedish citizens, tied-movers, refugees and labour immigrants. This paper focuses on the two latter groups. The aim of this study is to analyse the initial allocation of immigrants to Sweden 1967-2005 by sex and age in a regional perspective. Vacancies, unemployment and labour market participation as well as the stock of immigrants in different regions are included in the analysis as pull-factors. A multivariate cross-section OLS regression model will be used for estimating the relative initial regional distribution of immigrants in Sweden in 1967, 1975, 1990 and 2005 by sex and age. The method that has been chosen enables to control for a subset of explanatory variables and examine the effect of a selected independent variable when estimating the regional pull-factors to immigration. This study uses data collected from Statistics Sweden (SCB) and the National Labour Market Board (AMS). The data used is regional macro data, which exclude information on single individuals. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1467&r=mig |
| By: | Francesc Ortega; Giovanni Peri |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the relationship between openness to trade and to immigration on income per person. To address endogeneity concerns we extend the instrumental-variables strategy first used by Frankel and Romer (1999). We show that distance (geographical and cultural) can be used to build a strong predictor of openness to immigration and to trade. Our instrumental-variables estimates establish a robust, positive effect of openness to immigration on long-run income per capita, using demanding econometric specifications that account for trade openness, the role of institutions, and early development. In contrast the positive effect of trade openness on income is not robust to controlling for the direct effects of geography, providing support for the critique by Rodriguez and Rodrik (2001). We also show that the main effect of migration operates through total factor productivity, consistent with a theory where immigration increases the variety of skills available for production. We provide further evidence in support of this mechanism by showing that the degree of diversity (by origin country) in migration flows has an additional positive effect on income. Finally, we also find that immigration increases (ethnic and linguistic) fractionalization, which are associated to negative effects on income per capita. However, the direct gains from greater skill diversity appear to be larger than the costs arising from increased fractionalization. We do not find evidence of increased income inequality due to openness to immigration or trade. |
| JEL: | E25 F10 F22 O15 |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18193&r=mig |
| By: | Tiago Freire |
| Abstract: | Over the 40 years the pattern of migration has changed significantly with an increase in the share of female migrants, and especially low skill female migrants. These low skilled women migrants often work in the domestic service sector, a close substitute for household work. This paper analyzes how low skill rural-urban migration in Brazil from 1986 to 2000 lead to an increase in the labor supply of high skill women living in urban areas. In our model we show how large inflows of low skill women migrants decrease the relative price of domestic services. The largest beneficiaries of this trend are high skill women, who respond to the decrease in the cost of domestic services by joining the labor force and working more hours. We use Census data from Brazil from 1991 and 2000 to test this hypothesis. Using weather shocks in rural areas, and historical patterns of migrations, we are able to build an exogenous migration shock by skill to cities. Using this as an instrument for the price of domestic services and local wages we find that a 10% decrease in the wage of domestic workers increases the labor participation of high skill women by 3%. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p160&r=mig |
| By: | Fredrik Carlsen; Kare Johansen; Lasse Sigbjorn Stambol |
| Abstract: | European labour markets display large variations in unemployment rates across regions as well as between education groups. Insufficient labour force mobility is widely considered the main culprit behind regional unemployment disparities, but few studies have examined the link between interregional mobility and variation in unemployment rates across education groups. This paper employs administrative registers covering the entire Norwegian population to compute annual time series from 1994 to 2004 of migration flows and regional labour market conditions by educational level for 90 travel-to-work areas. We find that geographical disparities in unemployment rates are decreasing in education level, whereas the response of migration to fluctuations in regional unemployment rates is increasing in education level. Our results suggest that low regional mobility of low educated workers contributes to high unemployment disparities across regions and education groups as well as high overall unemployment. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p693&r=mig |
| By: | Tim Hatton |
| Abstract: | A country's most important asset is its people. This paper outlines the development of Britain's human resources since the middle of the 19th century. It focuses on four key elements. The first is the demographic transition - the processes through which birth rates and death rates fell, leading to a slowdown in population growth. The second is the geographical reallocation of population through migration. This includes emigration and immigration as well as migration within Britain. The third issue is labour supply: the proportion of the population participating in the labour market and the amount and type of labour supplied. Related to this, the last part of the chapter charts the growth in education and skills of the population and the labour force. |
| JEL: | J11 J12 J21 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:hpaper:004&r=mig |
| By: | Blanca Gutierrez Valdivia; Pilar García Almirall |
| Abstract: | The arrival of numerous immigrant populations in the last decade is causing deep changes in the physical and social morphology of the Spanish cities. This population locates in specific areas of our cities and has distinct settlement patterns from those of the native population. Likewise, the characteristics of their housing and the use that they make of the public space are different from those of the rest of the population. In this paper does a characterization of the physical conditions of the dwellings where this population live and of the public space that the immigrants use and the social consequences that these challenges involve. The territorial area of the research is the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona. It has been developed in different neighborhoods of the RMB with different urban and demographic characteristics and with a high concentration of immigrant population. The methodology used has been a combination of quantitative and qualitative techniques. First of all, a quantitative approach on the housing and the public space of the zone of studied has been made. Afterwards, different qualitative methods to study the results in depth (participant observation, interviews, analysis of photographies) have been used. Keywords: immigrant population, housing, public space, qualitative |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1353&r=mig |
| By: | Petri Böckerman; Mika Haapanen |
| Abstract: | In the 1990s polytechnic education reform took place in Finland, which gradually expanded higher education to all Finnish regions; the polytechnics constituted a new non-university sector in higher education. This reform is used to study the causal effect of education on the inter-regional migration. First we consider the impact of the reform on the migration of graduating high school students, followed by an investigation of school-to-work migration. Instrumental variables estimators are implemented that exploit the exogenous variation in the local supply of polytechnic education. Large panel micro-data are used. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p994&r=mig |
| By: | Claudio Mancilla; Yancy Vaillant; Esteban Lafuente |
| Abstract: | Usually, immigrants have been studied as employed work force. However, they often choose to become entrepreneurs. According to the relevant literature, there are evidences that immigrants are more entrepreneurially active than local inhabitants. However, results from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor for Spain show that this is not consistent across the urban-rural divide. Explanation for variances in entrepreneurship in rural as compared to urban areas have been linked to specific socio-institutional traits that exert a differentiated impact on the entrepreneurial activity levels of specific segments of the population. The objective of this study is to verify how the entrepreneurial activity of rural immigrants responds to socio-institutional traits that have been identified as key explanatory factors of entrepreneurial behaviour. To carry out this research, the Spanish Global Entrepreneur Monitor (GEM) data set from 2008 was used. We conduct a comparative analysis between three population groups: immigrants as compared to non-immigrant, rural immigrant as compared to urban immigrant, and rural immigrants as compared to rural non-immigrants. To do this, a rare events logit regression model was applied. The results indicate that the probability to become an entrepreneur is greater for immigrants. The same is true for an individual residing in a rural area. However, contrary to Spaniards, rural immigrants are not more likely to become entrepreneurs. We find explanation for this in the econometric analysis of the selected socio-institutional traits. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1464&r=mig |
| By: | Christian Schmidt |
| Abstract: | In recent decades, many countries have experienced suburbanization processes in metropolitan areas that have lead to an increase in urban sprawl by creating a growing polarity between newly formed satellite communities and the central urban area. More than before, work and residence location diverged. In this context, commuting and migration are two fundamental ways of connecting an individual's place of work with his residence. These distinctive mobility modes represent temporary and permanent mobility, respectively. Deciding for any of the two incurs peculiar costs. Commuting requires recurring costs that the individual has to bear without permanently changing his residence. In contrast, migration relocates the place of residence and can therefore prevent periodical mobility costs. Due to this fact, migration can serve as an alternative to commuting in respect to connecting the place of residence with the work place. This paper represents work in progress on the individual decision between commuting and migrating to the place of work in face of uncertain commuting costs. Solutions for two initial states are derived on the basis of the real options theory. The threshold commuting cost levels at which it is optimal for the individual to relocate to the suburb when initially living in the metropolitan center and to relocate to the city center when initially living in the suburb are presented and compared to the classical net present value solution without uncertainty about commuting costs. The effect of uncertainty about the evolution of commuting costs on the optimal decision denotes a remarkable result of this model: higher uncertainty lowers the commuting cost threshold for outmigration to the suburb, while increasing it for inmigration to the city center. On the one hand, individuals initially not commuting but living in the city center deter a possible outmigration even under increasingly unfavorable rental cost conditions. On the other hand, individuals initially living in the suburb are willing to bear significantly higher commuting costs before eventually relocating to the metropolitan center. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p1481&r=mig |
| By: | Jérôme Héricourt (EQUIPPE, Universités de Lille, Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne); Gilles Spielvogel (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, UMR 201) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the joint determination of beliefs about the economic impact of immigration and immigration policy preferences, using data from the five waves of the European Social Survey (2002- 2010). In addition to standard socioeconomic characteristics, this analysis takes into account individual media consumption as a determinant of opinion about immigration. Our results stress the important role of the endogenous determination of beliefs, which appear as a major determinant of policy preferences. Besides, media exposure appears as a key determinant of beliefs: individuals spending more time to get informed on social and political matters through newspapers and radio have a better opinion on the economic impact of immigration relatively to individuals which devote time to other types of contents. _________________________________ Cet article étudie la détermination conjointe des croyances concernant l'impact économique de l'immigration et des préférences en matière de politiques migratoires, en utilisant les données provenant des cinq vagues de l'European Social Survey (2002-2010). En plus des caractéristiques socio-économiques classiques, cette analyse prend en compte l'exposition aux médias en tant que déterminant de l'opinion sur l'immigration. Nos résultats soulignent le rôle clé de la formation endogène des croyances, qui apparaissent comme un déterminant majeur de préférences en matière de politiques migratoires. Par ailleurs, l'exposition aux médias est un déterminant important des croyances: les individus passant plus de temps à s'informer sur les questions sociales et politiques à travers la presse écrite et la radio ont une opinion plus positive de l'impact économique de l'immigration, relativement aux individus qui consacrent du temps à d'autres types de contenu. |
| Keywords: | International migration, beliefs, preferences, attitudes, media, Migrations internationales, croyances, préférences, opinion, médias. |
| JEL: | F22 D72 D83 J15 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt201206&r=mig |
| By: | Akos Jakobi |
| Abstract: | As a governmental institution the Public Employment Service in Hungary has the function to control and register official labour immigration by accomplishing regulations connected to employment permissions. As a result of the activity this institution collected a real large, and up to now basically not much explored database on the official employment of these foreign people, making it possible to find out what spatial and socio-economic features are characterising these processes. In the last decade 60-80 thousand foreign citizens were employed yearly in Hungary, of them the majority is coming from the neighbouring countries. This paper is focusing on employees coming from Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine, which countries are sending the most people to Hungary. Annually nearly 30-40 thousand low educated men of Romanian citizenship receive manual legal employment in the Hungarian labour market. The vast majority of them works in Budapest and its agglomeration as unskilled or semi-skilled workers in the construction industry, in manufacturing of machinery, in retail trade or in agriculture in the Great Plain. They are almost all Hungarians from Transylvania, for whom the Hungarian labour market grants higher safety of existence and employment with more comforts than at home. The primary motivation for their employment is the labour shortage in the Hungarian labour market. In other countries like in Slovakia different motivation factors appeared, since more skilled workers received employment in not only basic industrial and service branches. As a comparison labour migrants from Ukraine have more or less similar employment characteristics to people of Romanian citizenship. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p748&r=mig |
| By: | Winters, John V. (University of Cincinnati) |
| Abstract: | Areas surrounding colleges and universities are often able to build their local stock of human capital by retaining recent graduates in the area after they finish their education. This paper classifies 41 U.S. metropolitan areas as "college towns" and investigates differences in employment outcomes between college graduates who stay in the college town where they obtained their degree and college graduates who leave after completing their degree. We find that college town stayers experience less favorable employment outcomes along multiple dimensions. On average, stayers earn lower annual and hourly wages and work in less educated occupations. |
| Keywords: | migration, human capital, education, college towns, wages |
| JEL: | I20 J24 R23 |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6723&r=mig |
| By: | David McArthur; Inge Thorsen |
| Abstract: | This paper uses panel data on migration flows between municipalities in Norway from 2000-2008. The relatively new method of fixed effects vector decomposition (fevd) is used to estimate parameters for time-invariant spatial structure variables as well as for labour market factors such as unemployment rates, income and house prices. We compare several model specifications. Results on employment/unemployment are fairly consistent across models. Results on other variables, for instance income and house prices, are less robust. We also experiment with several measures of spatial structure, which adds considerably to the explanatory power of the model, as expected. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p532&r=mig |
| By: | Torben Dall Schmidt; Peter Sandholt Jensen |
| Abstract: | In recent years, foreign labour has become an essential issue in Western Europe. Recent research suggests that foreign labour has implications for regional growth patterns and employment opportunities of native workers. Yet, few studies go into the dimension of the regional determinants of recruitment of foreign labour underlying these regional growth effects. Therefore, this paper considers determinants of the regional location of foreign labour. Specifically, we investigate the role of social networks for the spatial distribution of work permits in the context of the Danish regions. We first investigate motives for recruiting foreign labour by analysing the particular case of Southern Denmark relying on recently collected employer survey data with roughly 2,000 records. We also analyse on regional differences in work permits across all Danish regions. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa10p350&r=mig |